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11/11/2008

Nano man is living large
Discover names Natelson one of 50 ‘celebrity’ scientists

BY MIKE WILLIAMS
Rice News staff

Doug Natelson wants a little attention, not so much for himself but for his field. This week, he’s got both.

Natelson, a Rice associate professor of physics and astronomy and in electrical and computer engineering, was named one of the nation’s top 20 scientists under age 40 by Discover magazine in its December issue, which hit the newsstands Nov. 11.

	DOUG NATELSON

The magazine made the "terrific 20" part of a special issue on the “Best Brains in Science,” singling out 50 scientists who should become celebrities “for making the most important contributions to American science.” They put Natelson in the good company of theoretical physicist and cover model Stephen Hawking, sociobiologist E.O. Wilson and a host of young women and men making breakthroughs in energy, biology, math, physics and more.

Natelson, whose research group focuses on the electronic, magnetic and optical properties of nanoscale structures, is intent upon bringing condensed-matter physics out of the shadows.

The Discover article said Natelson is “the Benjamin Franklin of the microscopic world: He studies electronic properties at the atomic scale, where the overlap of classical and quantum physics gains importance.”

The article also provides a link to his increasingly popular blog, “Nanoscale Views,” which is part of his quest to expose condensed-matter physics to a wider public.

“I looked around three years ago and noticed there were a lot of science blogs, but they were written by astronomers and high-energy physicists for each other and for their friends. We in the condensed-matter community don’t do nearly as effective a job of outreach,” Natelson said.

Wiess School of Natural Sciences
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“But the great irony is that we have more of an impact on your everyday life,” he said. “Your computer and your pocket calculator and your watch -- these are all the result of condensed-matter physics. And we do a terrible job of explaining this to you. We need to explain why what we’re doing is interesting and fun.”

Natelson admitted he has issues around the “culture” of science education in America. “It’s not hard to get a 7-year-old interested in science, but it’s very hard to get a 14-year-old interested,” he said. “There’s a real change that takes place somewhere in there where science ceases to be this neat thing that’s fun and becomes this nerdy thing that’s totally uncool.”